The Specialty Food Association’s virtual event, Specialty Food Live!, kicks off today and runs through Thursday.
As part of the event, food makers will showcase their new and bestselling products in virtual showrooms and be available to interact with buyers from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, on show days. Qualified, specialty food buyers will discover the exact types of products they’re looking for and be matched with makers they may not have known about.
Specialty Food Live! also includes a virtual tasting component whereby food makers with new products have sent samples to buyers in advance, and will pitch them live via video conferencing during three sessions today. They include Chips, Pretzels, Snacks at 11 a.m., Chocolate and Other Confectionary at 1 p.m., and Condiments, Dressings, and Marinades at 4 p.m.
Educational sessions with programming geared toward all attendees will begin at noon with the session Disruption and the New Normal: Selling Specialty Food. A panel of retail innovators, including Darrell Vannoy, PCC Community Market’s vice president of merchandising; Danielle Vogel, founder of Glen’s Garden Market; and Kate Harper, chief brand curator for soon-to-be-launched online retailer Hive, will explore how the global pandemic has exposed deficiencies in old systems, altered the sales landscape, and influenced the ways business is done.
An hour-long “Speed Round” where attendees can ask Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Zingerman’s, anything they’d like, will take place at 2 p.m..
During The Big Idea: CBD in Food and Beverage session, taking place at 4 p.m., panelists Bethany Gomez, managing director of Bright Group, Liza Cohen, founder of Nature’s Nosh, Jeni Lamb Rogers, partner at PSL Law Group, and David Donnan, partner emeritus at Kearney, will discuss the legal aspects of CBD in food products and the challenges and potential rewards of cannabis in specialty foods.
The sofi Product of the Year award winner, which is the sofi Award winning product that earned the highest score from 1,825 entries, will be announced at 5:45 p.m., followed by Mixology Monday: Cocktail Kickoff With Top Mixologist Mia Mastroianni. Attendees are invited to follow along with Mastroianni, whose been seen on TV’s Bar Rescue, as she demonstrates how to create two cocktails featuring specialty foods.
More information about the event can be found here.
from Industry Operations https://ift.tt/2HeTZPb
No comments: